Cover of The Lost Year

The Lost Year

by Katherine Marsh

The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh is assigned in US schools at grades 6–8. It appears across 5 curriculum references and 5 states, sourced from state DOE pages and AP/IB/Common Core syllabi. Every citation below links to the primary source.

This page shows where The Lost Year is assigned in US schools — curricula, states, grades, and the primary-source citations behind each placement. Not a summary or study guide.

Grade range
Grades 6–8
Age range
Ages 11–14
Pages
337
Reading time
about 6h 10m (est.)
First published
2023
Genre
Historical Fiction (Middle Grade)
ISBN-13
9781250313607
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About this book

Stuck at home in the early pandemic with his hundred-year-old great-grandmother GG, thirteen-year-old Matthew uncovers a tattered photo that leads to a buried family secret rooted in Ukraine's 1930s Holodomor famine. Katherine Marsh's grades 6-8 dual-timeline novel was a 2023 National Book Award finalist and a 2025-2026 Sunshine State Young Readers Award (Florida) nominee.

Why widely assigned

This Historical Fiction (Middle Grade) title, typically at grades 6–8. Written in the 2020s; pairs with curriculum units on family and history; cited across 5 curriculum frameworks.

Themes

family · history · perseverance

Where this book is assigned

Similar grade-level books

See all books like The Lost Year→ — matched on theme + reading level.

Common questions

What grade level is The Lost Year?
The Lost Year is most commonly assigned in US schools in grades 6–8. Specific grade placement varies by curriculum — AP Literature and IB English Literature typically use it in grades 11-12.
How long does it take to read The Lost Year?
It takes about 6h 10m to read The Lost Year (337 pages) at an average adult reading pace of about 250 words per minute — roughly 370 minutes. Faster or slower readers will vary; the estimate is a planning guide for assigning the book.
What curricula assign The Lost Year?
The Lost Year appears on reading lists for Garden State Children's Book Award, Great Stone Face Book Award, Oklahoma Sequoyah Children's Book Award, and 2 others. Each assignment on this site links to its primary-source citation.
Is The Lost Year banned in schools?
The Lost Year does not appear in PEN America's Index of School Book Bans 2022-2024. No documented multi-district removals on record, but individual districts may challenge titles locally.
What themes does The Lost Year explore?
Central themes in The Lost Year include family, history, perseverance. These themes match how the book is discussed in most curriculum guides and AP Literature prompts.

Why this book is on this list

Each dimension below is sourced from a public reference. The full framework is documented on the classification standard page.

Lexile measure
Not classified — this book has no published Lexile measure.
Grade band
Grades 6–8 — drawn from state ELA frameworks and AP/IB syllabi citing this book.
Curriculum alignment
Cited in 5 curricula on this site (see “Where assigned” above for primary-source links).
State-level evidence
Cited in 5 states ELA frameworks or DOE list (see citations above).
Removal / banning records
No tracked removal or challenge records in cited sources.
Seasonal / contextual tags
Tagged for: book-club.